HE BROUGHT ME TO LIFE
by Xiper
Summary: Imagine that Syd and Vaughn are carrying normal lives, as mine, as yours... Anyway they're bound to be together... Syd tells us how he burst into her life in a delicate moment, bringing her to life.
1. Chapter 1

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Disclaimer: Characters are not mine... but the rest of the story is!

Rating: I think it'll be PG, now and in the future...

Summary: Imagine for a moment that Syd and Vaughn are keeping normal lives (as mine, as yours...) but they're still made the one for the other... How thing would be between them? How did they build their story?... It's an experiment I started months ago, with our beloved characters, although the story isn't much 'Alias'.Eveything built using Evanescence's 'Bring me to life' as leif-motiv!

Genre: Syd's POV. Romance... tons of romance... It's an experiment I don't know where can reach!

Hope you'll forgive my mistakes with English (any feedback to improve also this aspect will be more than welcomed).

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BRING ME TO LIFE

I was lost. Well, I was not so lost but that's how I felt myself every minute. My life had come into an spiral of severe pain, after discovering that there's no worth in giving every bit of my whole life to a man, to someone who cheated over my feelings, turning them from joy and happiness into the most incredible desperation...

Yes, I know that this is a well-known story. I'm not the one, I'm not the first - and unfortunately not the last - in diving into the mists of pain because of love so much that your world seems to be ruined for good.

I don't know how long my state was so, but I still ignore how my life went upside-down from one minute to another. A coffee in a restaurant, near the place where I work, used to do me good -and it still does-. A black long coffee, sitting at the most hidden table, alone with my self-pity, thinking about the gone times... thinking about him...

Noise, people chatting about nothing more important than my sadness, in groups... and I was alone. My entire life seemed to have become an island between a sea of loud people. But I felt comfortable... so comfortable to think about trusting anyone... so comfortable to go on with my life, to keep my uses and my friends... All I wanted to do was being alone.

"Excuse me...", a kind man's voice put me out of my dark thoughts, "Would you mind if I take the newspaper?...mmm... just in case you've finished with it..."

I looked who was talking to me, invaded my quiet self-built space of loneliness. He seemed embarrased, as if he noticed he might have done something wrong in disrrupting my thoughts.

"Yes... of course...", I answered politely, there was no point in looking angry, "Yes, take it, I've just finished with the crossword". I caught myself making a non-related commentary to a perfect unknown person without apparent reason.

"Thanks.", he whispered. And he headed for a table situated near mine, glancing me in an almost furtive way as he left me.

I felt strange. I wouldn't be able to explain why I felt so, but that's what happened. I tried - useless try - to recover the line of my darkness, making an effort to center myself in my favourite hobby: recovering my most painful memories of the recent times... But soon I discovered I was unintendedly glancing to his table. The shy man was a handsome attractive one, undoubtedly. It would have been impossible for anyone not to realize the fact. And he called my attention, breaking my routine of centering only in my most immediate universe, that's it: my table, my coffee and my thoughts. I observed him carefully... Short fair hair, a bit spiky as if he had just got up in the morning. Green eyes, concentrated as they moved along the lines of the paper... Carefully drawn cheeks, and an almost unnoticed beard covering his chin as museline. Definitely gorgeous... And I immediatly categorized him into the category of men who were likely to wake my hate up. Beautiful kind men who play with every atom of yourself till they head for another objectiv to destroy.

Absorted in my mind as I was, I hardly realized the key strange moment in which our eyes met. My eyes went down for some seconds..._ That's the way men like him catch their victims_ - I thought. Slowly I looked again to get surprised by the fact that he was still looking at me too. I felt naked. I saw something in his look that made me think he was not looking at me, but directly deep to my feelings. He smiled, a smile full of understanding seemed to me.

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How can you see into my eyes like open doors

leading you down into my core

where I've become so numb...

The words of a song went across my head, telling me exactly what I'd seen in that look of him. _Stupid... You're going crazy!_ - I told to myself. Too much time having that day's coffee, better if I went back home.

So did I. I stood up, picked my jacket and went for the door, fast, trying to erase the rush of understanding he'd just sent to me... Being about to go out of the place, I noticed a warm firm hand catching my arm.

"Hey... wait!", said his voice, "You forget your paper!"

"You... you can keep it if you want...", I turned to face him without arising my shy look, "I... I don't need it anymore"

"Is everything O.K.?", he insisted, "Hope I didn't annoy you"

"No, don't worry. Everything's well", I looked at him, only to meet his flashing bright green eyes saying me good-bye, "Bye!"

"Thanks again... See you"

I exited, trying to breath deep the fresh air of November. What was happening to me? Oh God... I was great in my island-alike existence, and suddenly something had changed the places. I couldn't understand... If I had known what would happen, probably I'd have run to the emptiest place in earth...

Still shocked, I arrived at home where I realized that I had finally taken my newspaper from those unknown but warm hands. I was about to throw it away, to free myself from the arisen agitation, when I saw something in the cover. Written in a beautiful right masculine writing, I gasped when I read _'How can such a beautiful face express such a deep pain and such a desperate loneliness? -MV-'_

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	2. Chapter 2

That very night I hardly managed to sleep. I couldn't avoid the continuous thought of that shy gorgeous man who was making, for the first time in months, my dreams uneasy, making me foolishly dream awake.

Next morning, after work, I saw myself heading for the coffee I had met him, but I was trying to convince myself that that man wouldn't be there in this occassion. I couldn't explain myself why I was feeling so nervous at the solely thought of meeting him once more. He was a fresh air breeze on one of my lonely days, but only that. A weird meeting which would have no more importance on the coming days and weeks and months which were waiting for me until I may overcome my depressive state, given the chance that some day I would manage to do it.

My heart bit faster as I opened the coffee door with my eyes longing for a glance of him. The beating of my heart died as I saw no trace of him in the busy place. Many people, chatting as the day before, stressed waiters attending the clients, but he, the mistery man who signed as MV, was not there.

I took sit in a corner table, making a sign to the waiter to order my American-style tea, and feeling more disgraced than the day before. I had been a completely fool; someone offered me a bit of understanding and strage interest and my life had become removed from its base for half a day. Well, at least it was more than nothing, At least I could accept the fact that I was not dead to the world... yet.

Trying to concentrate myself in the crossword, as usual, I noticed a tear running down my cheek. _Oh, my God_, I thought, _Syd, you're going crazy for nothing!_. OK, he acted as a wind of hope for me, but I could not allow myself to spend my little strength with such an unrelevant thing.

The crossword was over, but unknown reasons forced me to remain there, hoping nothing, waiting for nobody. I just took a book from my bag and I started to read, not having a clue of what the hell I was reading about.

Darkness had grown outside... Most people had already left the coffee, but I was still there, determined to stay till the last bit of illogical hope remained with me. Little by little, I managed to concentrate in the book. Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' was the story which matched the more my state at those moments, so the book had me caught in its magic. I didn't notice the entrance door opening, I had abandoned the effort of looking up every single time it sounded, so I kept my attention unconsciously to the master's lines. Nor did I listen to the steps which were getting closer to my table.

"Hello", he said. I didn't look at him, but I knew his voice, better sais, my heart did it because it began beating faster. Hope came to me from the distance, in a rush, suddenly, making me gasp in abandoned surprise. "Sorry for distracting you" he smiled, and he seemed sincere to me.

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Without a soul... my spirit's sleeping somewhere cold,

until you find it there and lead it back home

The song crossed my shocked mind once more, as it drew my feelings perfectly. He had finally come, over all hope, to make me feel alive again... thought it could be for only another day and night. I didn't need more, the sole thought of sharing minutes with him conforted me enough.

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	3. Chapter 3

"Hello??", he insisted, without stopping his smile. I was so abstracted that I hadn't say anything to him yet. He looked funny at the situation, making me afraid again of his being another man trying to take advantage of my desolation.

Finally, I talked, in a shattering voice, denoting my nervous state. "Hi!", I smiled. "U want a coffee?" I didn't know how I was able to make that offer, but suddenly something in me told me it was just the appropiate move.

"Sure. May I...?", he seemed to doubt at the very time he grasped the chair back to sit down.

"Of course", I allowed him to share my lonely table. I was feeling so idiot as in a teenager love.

He called the waiter to ask for his drink... an American tea without sugar. Nobody talked after the order... It was a weird inner situation between two perfect unknowns to break the logical first silence. The waiter brought the tea and he concentrated for some seconds in moving the drink with the little spoon. I didn't why but, to my surprise, he looked somewaht ashamed. I tried desperately to find word inside of me to finish with that situation, to say something. It was strange, but so much illusionated as I had been with the mere thought of seeing him, I hadn't thought of what could I say if I was bound to the moment.

"I... I felt maybe I should come today. I didn't know if you would be here, but I think I owed you an explanation", he took the initiative, what supposed a great relief to me.

"Weird yesterday, uhmm?", I answered. I didn't know where my words had their source but that moment was not to be left passing. "You shocked me yesterday, and I was curious about your...original message. In fact, and maybe I shouldn't tell this to you, I was waiting for you, though I didn't have any clue on if you would finally come or not". I regretted my words the very moment they went out of my mouth and I glanced at him, frightened of his reation to them. I calmed down, for I didn't see any typical bastard reaction from his part.

"Maybe I put my fingers where I was not supposed to do, maybe this is none of my business and maybe you think I'm a fool, a mad one or a stupid guy, but I could feel it", an interrogation appeared in my face at the sound of these words. I nodded, without words to answer with. He smiled again. "I felt something was very wrong with you and I knew that this will surprise you, and perhaps it'll sound presuntuous to you, but I wonder whether I could help you. You seemed alone... you threw your pain to me... and it was really painful, because I think I also know that place. I didn't know what to do but it was strange and I felt keen on meeting you again. That's the reason of my try to come here today. Yesterday was the first day I came here, it was casual we met." He got silent, as if he felt having said too much.

My brain was a mess of contradictory thoughts. I didn't know what to do, what to say... I was completely unarmed against such an amount of frankness. Could I trust him? Should I? I was not prepared to defend myself against nothing. It was too soon, for I was not healed yet. I found his green eyes looking straight into mine.

"Do you realize that we haven't introduced each other?", I decide to break the ice with a non-relevant questions, but still an important one.

"Oh... sorry", he looked embarrased, "what a fool... I'm Michael"

"Nice to meet you, Michael. My name's Sydney"

"Nice to meet you too.", he said as he stretched my hand. An electric shock crossed me at his warm touch. Again I had no explanation for the feeling, but I felt secure with him, I felt good. But I was still afraid of being cheating on myself, lying to me with an illusion of someone special entering my life.

After the mutual introduction, an uncomfortable silence covered our table again. We had talked at first about such a subject that now it seemed difficult to recover the conversational line. He came out with the best suggestion to save the situation.

"I think that it may a good idea to act as if nothing had happened. We've just known each other and we're not supposed to feel comfortable at telling such intimate issues from the first moment". I nodded at their speech. He looked at my books. "Shakespeare? Romeo and Juliet? That's also one of my favourites. I've read it hundreds of times..."

"For me, this is not the first neither", I smiled to him.

That was the beginning of a kind conversation about English literature, which we found to be one of our common passions. Time passed and a bell sound woke us up from our discussion. I didn't remember when was the last time I had felt so well with another human being, immersed in an interesting talk and drinking a hot tea. I felt in heaven. Maybe this would become to nothing but it was worth to try what could happen.

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	4. Chapter 4

We went out the coffee. It was dark and cold outside. That was the moment of truth, where he could show what kind of man really was.

"May I make some walking company to home?", he asked doubtfully. My smile froze. _He was waiting for this moment, I knew it, I'll never learn from the experience_, I whispered inside. But I allowed to come with me.

We walked fast, because it was beginning to rain. He got his jacket over his shoulder to cover me partially with it. I could not deny it: It was a gentleman.

We arrived to my door. I kept my breath, waiting for the moment the dream would end with the usual question. But he didn't asked to go in. He looked at me, again his shy look to whisper: "Why don't we meet tomorrow? I think we still have a lot to talk about... if you want..." His eyes concentrated on the ground, shy once more.

"I'd love too", I decided to run the risk, because life was taking every inch of my being, a warm sensation long forgotten.

He smiled widely... "Really? At five o´clock?", he appointed.

"Ok, see you at five then! Have good rest!, I accepted, trying to hide my nerves.

**(Wake me up)**

Wake me up inside

(I can't wake up)

Wake me up inside

He waved his hand as he left my door. I answered. Michael was really managing to waking me alive again... But as I was opening the lock, I heard steps and a hand -his hand- in my shoulder... "I forgot to tell you something, Sydney... I forgot to tell the truth... You are so beautiful, you know?" And he ran away like a ashamed child, leaving me open-mouth, and my heart hitting my breast at the whisper of his last words.

**(Save me)**

call my name and save me from the dark

When he said my name, I could not avoid shivering and I was sure it was not the cold of the street.

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(Wake me up)

bid my blood to run

(I can't wake up)

before I come undone

(Save me)

save me from the nothing I've become

I entered home. And the warmness of the flat seemed like cold comparing with what I was beginning to feel for the mysterious handsome man, for Michael. That song suits perfectly with everything which was happening from yesterday, I was sunk in the most incredible desperation, giving everything as lost, and Michael appeared from the Nothing to do as the song prayed, he was managing what everyone left as impossible... He was beginning to bring me back to life...

I went to bed early... I didn't want dinner... just to rest, to dream with that day, in case I woke up the next morning to discover it had been only a product of my imagination... I was afraid of that and I really needed the clock sounding the five o'clock to see the coffee door opened again...

Closing my eyes, yet smiling, I turned the lights off... waiting for the next meeting.

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Michael..., was my last thought.

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